Another progressive slot machine in Colorado may have malfunctioned and displayed a false multimillion-dollar jackpot. This time a gambler at the Wildwood Casino in Cripple Creek was told she won about $11 million when the actual jackpot was worth $1,627.

Here’s the official scoop from the Division of Gaming:

At 6:42 p.m. on June 1, Mary McMahon of Colorado Springs was playing a 25-cent Bally’s Diamond Line stand alone progressive slot machine at Wildwood Casino at Cripple Creek when the top progressive prize of $1,627.82 was awarded. The progressive display screen on the slot machine alternately displayed “JACKPOT,” “$1,627.82,” “CURRENT,” and “$11,000,600.00.” The incident is currently under investigation by the Colorado Division of Gaming.

In late March, a machine at Fortune Valley Casino in Central City told Louise Chavez that she had won nearly $43 million. A forensic investigation by the Gaming Division determined her correct prize was actually $20.18. A calculating error in the game’s software caused the slot to malfunction, according to the investigation.

Casino operators that I’ve spoken with have said they don’t plan on making the change on existing multi-deck games. Some have said they may institute the 6:5 payout on single-deck games or different types of blackjack games, such as double-exposure.

If you happen to see a Colorado casino that has the 6:5 payout on a multi-deck game, drop me an email at avuong@denverpost.com. During a recent visit to Vegas, I noticed many multi-deck games – particularly at Caesar’s Palace – featuring the 6:5 payout, which just tilts the game heavily in the house’s favor.

On a related note, one of the best places to play blackjack Read more…

Qwest is seeking $350 million in federal stimulus grants to extend high-speed Internet service to more than 500,000 homes, businesses and schools in rural communities across its 14-state local service territory.

The Denver-based company would spend $100 million upgrading its network in Colorado, adding or improving broadband service to nearly 108,000 homes. Internet speeds would range from 12 megabits per second to 40 megabits per second.

The project would reach more than 18,000 businesses, schools, libraries and other facilities in Colorado, which would receive the largest portion of the spending. Qwest estimates that it would create or retain 5,000 jobs in the state.

The build-out will cover more than 100 Colorado communities, including Aspen, Central City, Grand Junction, Greeley, Hudson, Sterling and Windsor.

The total cost of the project is $467 million, with Qwest covering 25 percent, or $117 million.

“Much like the water and electric programs the government established to encourage rural development, federal grants are needed to enable the deployment of broadband to high-cost, unserved areas,” said Steve Davis, senior vice president of government relations for Qwest.

The federal economic stimulus program includes $7.2 billion in funding for extending broadband to unserved or under-served communities. Broomfield-based Level 3 Communications this month received $13.7 million in Read more…

Indianapolis-based Centaur, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Saturday, hired The Innovation Group in August explore a possible sale, said Centaur chief financial officer Kurt Wilson.

Wilson said Centaur wants to focus on its core business, which is operating racinos – race tracks that feature casino-style gambling. Fortune Valley is a pure casino and is the largest in Central City.

A sale is not imminent as regulatory approvals could take six to 18 months, Wilson said. He wouldn’t disclose how much Centaur is seeking for Fortune Valley.

The company would use proceeds from a sale to pay down debt. Centaur has $584 million in assets and $680 million in debt, Wilson said.

He said Fortune Valley would operate as usual as Centaur navigates its way through bankruptcy.

The Indianapolis-based company, which also operates Hoosier Park Racing & Casino in Indiana and Valley View Downs & Casino in Pennsylvania, issued a press release Saturday stating that operations would not be impacted. The company filed Chapter 11 to restructure debt, which apparently includes $250 million in licensing fees connected to Hoosier Park.

Centaur said “cash flow generated from daily operations and cash reserves are more than adequate to fund operating expenses, including supplier obligations and employee wages, salaries and benefits during the restructuring period.”

The Gaming Commission’s decision to allow Colorado casinos to lower the payout on blackjacks from 3:2 to 6:5 stirred “more public discussion” than any other action in recent member, said Division of Gaming director Ron Kammerzell.

“Lost in the discourse regarding the rule changes was the fact that the changes were more about choice than they were about odds,” Kammerzell wrote in the Gaming Division’s monthly newsletter. “Although we remained neutral, we took the proposed changes before the Commission because there was no legal reason why they should not be approved.”

He says many casinos will choose not to lower the blackjack payouts to 6:5. The change is optional and no casino has gone public with their plans.

Not surprisingly, no operator has stepped up to the plate to acknowledge that they made the request to the lower payout. That information should have been disclosed with the public proposal.

Even if it’s to just acknowledge that they plan to add a new blackjack game such as double exposure or single-deck, the property or properties that requested the rule change should be required to speak up.

Quite honestly, I would be surprised if Ameristar didn’t change its tune. That property has by far the largest crowds on the weekends, and during peak hours I’m sure they would have no problem filling a multi-deck, 6:5 game, so long as the minimum bet is no more than $10.Read more…

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UPDATE (02/19/2010 10:00 A.M.):
The commissioners that voted for the change indicated that it was best to let the market decide whether the lower payout should get implemented. Gaming Division spokesman Don Burmania said the commissioners essentially stated in their decision that “the rule was permissive and not mandatory, so the offering of the odds becomes a business decision that the casinos decide, not a regulatory decision that the regulators decide.”

The lower payout can go into effect April 30, though some casinos have said publicly that they don’t plan to implement it. (Whether that holds true six months down the road is another matter).

Currently, casinos must pay 3 to 2 on a blackjack, meaning a $10 bet would win $15. The new rule lowers that payout to $12.

Gaming consultant Bill Zender says the 6 to 5 payout works in Vegas because tourists are there to gamble. But it’s tougher to implement the lower payout in markets that deal with mostly locals, like Black Hawk, Central City and Cripple Creek.

“Six to five blackjack payouts have seen some success in low-limit games in areas that are destination resorts like the Las Vegas Strip,” Zender told me Read more…

Colorado’s mountain casinos posted a 14 percent increase in revenue in December and the industry recorded a 2.6 percent gain for the year. However, only casinos in Black Hawk saw an overall increase in revenue in 2009.

Last month, casinos posted $55.4 million in adjusted gross proceeds – which is total bets minus payouts – up from $48.6 million in December 2008.

During the first six months of 2009, casino revenues fell 3.9 percent compared with the same time period in 2008. Over the final six months after bet limits were raised, new games were added and hours extended, revenues shot up 9.2 percent, according to the state Division of Gaming.

The changes, approved by voters, helped casinos post a 2.6 percent increase in AGP in 2009. In 2008, the industry suffered a 12.3 percent drop.

For 2009, Black Hawk’s 20 casinos generated $530 million in AGP, up 4 percent from $509 million in 2008. Cripple Creek’s 16 casinos posted $140 million in AGP, which was flat from the year before. Central City’s six casinos totaled $64.2 million in AGP in 2009, down 4.3 percent from $67.1 million in 2008.

New Jersey is trying to become the first state to legalize Internet gambling, according to this Press of Atlantic City story.

A proposed bill would allow operators of brick-and-mortar casinos in the state to operate web sites that offer games such as poker. Apparently, California is considering similar legislation.

Internet gambling took a major hit in 2006 after Congress passed a bill that prohibited U.S. banks and credit-card companies from processing transactions for gambling websites. Several popular poker sites operated internationally, including PartyPoker, stopped taking bets from U.S. residents.

Despite the federal crackdown, we’ve continued to see ads in the U.S. for PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and other online gambling sites because they refer to the companies’ .net home pages, which are billed as educational tools that allow users to play poker with chips that don’t have monetary value. The .com sites are the actual gambling sites. Indeed, countless U.S. residents are still illegally gambling on those sites, and that revenue generated for operators remains untaxed.

Proponents say regulating online gambling would help bolster state revenues at a time when many are struggling with budget shortfalls. Opponents say it would create more problems for pathological gamblers and open the door for underage gambling.

Separately,the Colorado Supreme Court may be asked to rule on whether poker is gambling or a game of skill. We’re still waiting for an appeal to be filed by Kevin Raley, the defendant in the case, with help from the Poker Players Alliance.

Emilie Rusch covers retail and commercial real estate for The Post. A Wisconsin native and Mizzou graduate, she moved to Colorado in 2012. Before that, she worked at a small daily newspaper in South Dakota. It's the one with Mount Rushmore.